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18% Of TV Viewers Recall Seeing A Twitter Hashtag During A Show [STUDY]

Social media is making its television debut in style. According to the latest study, 64 percent of US consumers recall seeing some sort of social media symbols – like a Twitter hashtag or a Facebook “like” – while watching TV. And half of these viewers went ahead and interacted with social media after seeing it on the tube.
The study comes to us from Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. They surveyed 1,000 US consumers over the age of 18 in March 2012 to see how their social media and TV habits connected.

They found that social is becoming an increasingly more important part of the regular TV routine in America.

Of the 64 percent of TV viewers who recalled seeing some sort of social media symbol during their TV-watching session, 42 percent remember a “Like” button, 28 percent remember a QR code and 18 percent remember a Twitter hashtag.

And after seeing this social media call to action on their TV, 33 percent of viewers actually went ahead and either “Liked” the show on Facebook (20 percent), scanned a QR code (11 percent) or searched for the related hashtag on Twitter (7 percent).

When asked why they chose to interact with social media after (or even during, as is the case with those of us who can’t leave our laptops powered off while on the couch) a show, the majority (43 percent) said they wanted to get more information about the show or a related product or service.

But TV-watchers are also on the lookout for deals: 32 percent said they were interested in getting access to coupons or promotional codes, and 31 percent wanted to enter a contest or sweepstakes.

And people seem to be generally happy with the content they’re getting via social once the tube has been turned off. 74 percent said the social media content met their expectations, while only 10 percent thought it was below expectations.

Still, of those who didn’t interact with social media as a result of a TV show, the main reason (cited by 60 percent of non-social-types) was because they felt they simply wouldn’t be interested in the content.